The EDC organise several community events each year:
You can subscribe to our email notification service in order to receive information about all of our forthcoming events.
We host a community-focused dance history festival each year; enthusiasts and professionals from across our community perform for each other’s pleasure. A list of our previous festivals can be found here.
THE PROGRAMME
FRIDAY
18:00 Reception opens
18:30 Welcome
19:30 – 21:00 Talk by David Sutcliffe ‘Cecil Sharp, his life and his work in the recovery of early folk dances’. Drinks & a light supper are included.
SATURDAY
9:00 Festival Reception opens for rehearsals
13:00 – 17:00 Festival Performances
18:00 – 19:15 Dinner
20:00 – 22:30 Dancing with caller Georgia Delve and Sharon Lindo & The Abbey House Band
SUNDAY
11:00 – 12:30 Organised guided visit to Hellens Manor, Much Markle, Ledbury, HR8 2LY
We host a popular dance history lecture each year. An archive of information on our previous lectures can be found here. What follows are details of our latest Lecture.
2024 marks 40 years since the birth of The Early Dance Circle. A full day is planned to celebrate, including a dance workshop, the Annual Lecture itself, a light supper and a vintage-themed evening afterwards. BOOK SOON on Eventbrite at http://tinyurl.com/bde4829s
Come in Costume if you like: We’re hoping some of our guests might want to dress for the 1980’s, the decade the EDC was born and the era of the New Romantics. Of course, any party gear is fine and we’ll still be dancing across the centuries, from the 15th century on, with Playford and all the gang. But maybe we can fit in something a bit more Madonna. We hope that as many of you as possible will come along and have a wonderful time. We are very lucky to have Dr McCulloch as this year’s speaker as a major part of the programme.
THE PROGRAMME FOR THE DAY
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1:30 pm |
Doors Open |
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2:00 – 3:30 |
Workshop on the Dances of Thomas Bray, in honour of Diana Cruickshank (former Chair of the EDC), led by Barbara Segal |
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3:30 – 4:00 |
Afternoon Tea/Coffee Break |
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4:00 – 5:30 |
Dr Lynsey McCulloch’s lecture on Dance, Stillness and the Early Modern Image (see below) |
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6:00 |
A light supper will be provided |
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7:30 – 9:00 |
Dancing, with our members calling to recorded music |
Dance, Stillness and the Early Modern Image
Speaker: Dr Lynsey McCulloch (Royal Shakespeare Company)
A Lady Masquer by Inigo Jones
Dr McCulloch is a Research Fellow in the Department of Learning and National Partnerships at the Royal Shakespeare Company. She has taught at Coventry University and was also Journal and Conferences Coordinator at the Institute for Advanced Teaching and Learning, at the University of Warwick. She has had a distinguished career. Her new book, Dance and the Static Image, has just come out. In the recent past, with Brandon Shaw, she co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Shakespeare & Dance, and with Brown and Lublin, she co-edited Reinventing the Renaissance: Shakespeare and his Contemporaries in Adaptation and Performance. In addition, she has many, many shorter pieces to her credit.
The EDC hosts a major dance history conference every two years. Proceedings are published and an archive of information on our previous conferences can be found here.
The Conference brings together international specialists on historical dance topics spanning six centuries of dance history in the delightful surroundings of St Katharine’s Retreat House. The theme for the 2024 gathering is Recovering Historical Dance: “We don’t reproduce the past, we create it” (Hilary Mantel).
To reserve your place, please follow the instructions in the BOOKING FORM
We host and collaborate on other events from time to time. These can include workshops, study days, and additional lectures as the opportunities arise. Many such projects are undertaken in collaboration with other organisations. Do get in touch with us if you have a joint project in mind. An archive of information on our previous special events can be found here. What follows are details of our next Special Event.
This is an EDC sponsored session, within the April 3 – 5, 2024 Association for Art History Conference, University of Bristol, Faculty of Arts, 9, Woodland Road Bristol BS8 1TB. A panel of contributors will present papers and discuss this important topic. Tickets at https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/association-for-art-history-annual-conference-2024-tickets-759699360237?aff=oddtdtcreator.
An evening of the 18th-century dance & music with The Weaver Ensemble
The Weaver Ensemble, led by Evelyn Nallen, offers an evening of music, song, and dance from the London stage of the 1700s, focused on the works of the celebrated English dancer, choreographer, and scholar, John Weaver, 1673-1760. The Weaver Ensemble will present two productions “The Loves of Mars & Venus” and “The Loves of Pygmalion”. They are not reconstructions, but celebrate Weaver’s contribution to the history of dance. They are devisCall for Papersed by Evelyn Nallen and Stephen Wyatt, and scripted by Stephen Wyatt, with a performing team of an actor, two dancers, and four on-stage musicians. Productions use original 18th – century choreographies. This is not the work of John Weaver, but offers a glimpse into the pleasure early dance can offer modern audiences. Artur Zakirov joins the Weaver Ensemble in the new year, taking over leading roles in Pygmalion and The Loves of Mars and Venus.
Venue: Marylebone Theatre, 35 Park Road, London, NW1 6XT (6 mins walk from Baker Street Tube Station)
Tickets: £15 (excl booking fee) book at Eventbrite
Monday December 14
The premiere of the programme was on the EDC Facebook page and YouTube channel, it remains available to watch now. You can see the video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IOnjOprUWs0.
The Early Dance Circle has prepared a special programme of dance and music composed by Ignatius Sancho (c. 1729 – 14.12.1780) on 14 December 2020.
Sancho is famous nowadays as a man of letters and the first African to vote in a British election. Now you can enjoy reconstructions of Sancho’s choreographies and music by the Hampshire Regency Dancers, Quadrille Club and Green Ginger, as well as discussions and interviews with some knowledgeable experts on his career:
Meryl Thomson (Green Ginger), who recently recorded the CD “Dances for a Princess”. Paul Cooper, a specialist in Regency dance, who has worked a good deal on Sancho. Sally Petchey, author of a recent book about the life and dances of Ignatius Sancho: Dances for a Princess, humbly dedicated (with permission) to the Princess Royal by Her Royal Highnesses Most Obedient Servant Ignatius Sancho.
